QUESTION TIME | I can’t pretend I like the way the opposition is shaping up and where they are headed. That they are in shambles is obvious enough but importantly so is the ruling BN, especially the way they are running the country and quickly submerging us into the depths of despair and discontentment.

Perhaps we must learn not to expect too much from the opposition - given the way politics has been in this country of ours from the time of independence, any change is not going to be orderly, well-thought-out and organised.

Order and a semblance of the right things being done will only probably happen as a result of wrenching change followed by extreme entropy where things are likely to be in chaos for long periods before the desired kind of stability for most of the rakyat is reached.

I suppose one has to be realistic at the pace of and how change takes place, especially when bribery and corruption have been around for so long.

But still, I felt terribly let down by the opposition. Here are three prime examples. First, I was bitterly disappointed that they could not work out a way to keep PAS in the opposition coalition. What chance in hell do they have of winning the election now when almost all Malay-majority seats will face three-cornered fights?

Even DAP should not sit smugly back and think they are safe because they are likely to get much fewer Malay votes now as the Umno-PAS axis gets louder and louder for Malay rights to be exercised in the face of perceived non-Malay attempts to deny Malays their entitlement. That could make a difference in marginal seats.

Whichever way you work the numbers, that’s going to be hugely negative for the opposition, as I explained in detail here.

And so who did the opposition turn to after they ditched PAS in favour of Amanah? That was my second disappointment - Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was responsible for much of the problems that Malaysia faces now, directly as a result of his long 22-year reign at the top until 2003.

This man, who put opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim into jail, is now the opposition leader and will become prime minister if Harapan wins. He has said, of course, that he will step down once Anwar is able to take over from him but things can change.

Power gets to the head and the past has shown that it does for him. Can we really trust him to peaceably and willingly hand over to Anwar? Or will there be political machinations after that?

Is Harapan so bereft of leaders that they have to resort to someone with a terribly tainted past and who directly contributed to many of the ills of the country to shore up their leadership acumen?

Was it so bad that they had to throw out their sense of morality and ethics? What does it say about Harapan itself?

On to the third disappointment where the Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng faces allegations over the Penang tunnel project. While there is untruth being purveyed, not all allegations are without basis.

And then there is the older issue of that bungalow which Lim (photo) purchased for below its market value. For a person of Lim’s stature to make these kinds of decisions which reek of suspicion is rather disappointing to say the least.

Yes, some of us had very high expectations from the opposition but it turns out that they were not up to what we wanted from them. But does that mean that we throw up our hands in despair, and well spoil our votes, like the “undi rosak” people want us to...